Algorithm for sorting of comments on hacker news | Hacker News Reader

Algorithm for sorting of comments on hacker news

2 pointskleine22 comments

How does the algorithm for sorting the comments in a given thread on hacker news work? I get the feeling that new comments that come in late don't stand much of a chance to stay at the top relative to old comments that got voted up. Doesn't it need to be weighted based on how high it got rated up relative to the time it was posted and how many other ratings took place during the time it was up?

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From the FAQ at http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

    How are stories ranked? 

    On the front page, by points divided by a power
    of the time since they were submitted. Comments
    in comment threads are ranked the same way.

There are many tweaks that have been suggested, and some have been tried. It's certainly true that bad timing can lead to submissions and comments sinking without trace, but in general the feeling is that the existing system works well enough and with few surprises.

I prefer a simple "add new comments to the end of the page" system - if the comments are worth reading in the first place, then I like to check new comments off and on for a while, and these changeable order systems makes it hard and time-wasting to check up. (I do like nesting, because it helps understanding of comments more than it costs in updating).

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